The Bus Tour Was A Good Craic

The past 4 days have been great for authentic Irish craic. Almost too much craic. Craic is the Irish word for having a good time, or having fun. We went on this bus tour and had a good craic. PaddyWagon was the tour group we went with and they were awesome. The driver (Gab) was absolutely hilarious and by the end of the tour almost everyone on the bus was friends with each other. The Irish really know how to have a good time.

The first leg of our journey took us through many small towns with a stop at a whiskey tour. By late afternoon we made it to Galway, where we spent the night. 60% of the population in Galway is less than 23 years old, so we knew we were in for a good night. And a good night it was. There's no better way to get to know people than at the pub with a few pints. We met mostly Australians, with a few Germans, Canadians, and Americans. The best had to be the Irish folk. They showed us good craic at the pub.


The second day bus ride was very entertaining, courtesy of some singing, or attempts at singing, by Gab. Before arriving at Killarney for the second night, we stopped at the Cliffs of Mohr. The were absolutely beautiful. The pictures I have unfortunately don't give the full feel of the immense size of the cliffs. After some history about Ireland, which was extremely interesting, we made it to Killarney. Jack recommends to read the book Trinity by Leon Uris for Irish history. I never realized before how much hatred there is between the Irish and the English. The British, led by Cromwell, caused so many problems for the Irish that it really is no wonder why the Irish hate the British so much. The hatred at least makes for some good football and rugby games!


Throughout the bus ride, I couldn't believe how green everything was. All the fields were bright green and were divided by old stone walls, which were about 3 feet tall. I figure they must be that green because of how much rain they get. The weather here is very weird; one hour it will be blue sky and sunny and the next will be cloudy and rainy. Fortunately, the rain never lasted long.


On the road back to Dublin we stopped at Blarney Castle to kiss the blarney stone. However, there was a huge line up so I will not get the 'gift of the gab' for 7 years. It was known to give people the gift of the gab because the king who lived in the castle could talk his way out of any situation. From Blarney Castle we stopped at 2 other castles before arriving back at Dublin. This telling of the Irish countryside is very brief because, to be honest, we did so much that I can't remember it all. I highly recommend this bus tour to anyone planning a trip to Ireland.